Ticketek is in the process of eliminating the need for paper tickets for events, with the company officially announcing its roll-out of mobile tickets.

(Screenshot by Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

Customers will be able to purchase tickets from Ticketek and send them to their own or their friends' smartphones. At participating venues, mobile ticket holders can walk up with their smartphone and have the barcode on its screen scanned. Users will also be able to print out their barcode or visit the box office on the day of the event if they forget their smartphone or it runs out of battery on the day of the event. Once a barcode has been scanned, however, it is marked as such, preventing any additional copies being permitted entry.

The company has about 110 contracted venues across the country and aims to have all of them mobile ticket-enabled by 30 June next year. The largest of these, including the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Sydney Cricket Ground and Suncorp Stadium already have the technology in place to accept mobile tickets.

Last month, Suncorp Stadium jumped the gun, praising the technology it had readied for an upcoming Brisbane Roar match, before Ticketek had even officially announced its availability.

Ticketek told ZDNet Australia that although it was just a trial at the time, Suncorp had been enthusiastic about the technology and confident enough in its abilities that it made the announcement.

Another early partner that has gone through trials is the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust (SCGT).

"The new mobile technology allows us to better manage our patrons on event days. We have a high proportion of customers who walk up without a ticket and now with Ticketek's mobile tickets, customers can avoid those game-day queues and purchase tickets on their smartphones, have them sent immediately via SMS and be scanned into the venue without going to the box office," said SCGT general manager of events and operations, Pat Wilson.

Although Ticketek said that the technology would be made available to each of the venues it has contracts with, it would be up to the venue's managing body and the event's promoter as to whether mobile tickets are ultimately used.

The company also said that how venues want to trial the technology would be up to them. It said that some venues were comfortable trialling the technology in one large event, while others wanted to use multiple smaller events to see if it worked for them.